Lost - A short story

Panting, Kevin collapsed under the shade of thehuge oak tree. He had been running for a few hours now. He had beenmoving towards what he thought was the highway but he should havereached it ages ago.

“Bloody idiots”, he muttered.

Heshould have never listened to them. But when had he ever been able totell them no? Whose bright idea was it to come to this place anyways?Must have been Mark. Ever confident and outgoing, he had always beenjealous of him. How often he had wished that he could be more likeMark. When the other kids bullied him, Mark was the only one who hadstood up for him. Andthen there was Brian. Always sticking up to Mark, he was his sidekick.He had never really been part of their little group. He had always feltlike an outcast. But they were his only friends. Even at home he wasalways bullied. His father always came home drunk and beat him till hewas senseless, trying to beat the “devil” out of him. But he had neverstood up to his father, meekly suffering for no fault of his. Hewished he could escape from this godforsaken forest. Anything wasbetter than this. His throat was parched. And God, was he hungry! Thelast real food he had had was a day ago.

“Bloody idiots”.

Hehad known they were not alone when he had heard noises, but theywouldn’t listen to him. He had tried to tell them, again and again, butthey did not listen. No one ever listened to him. They thought he wascrazy but who was the crazy one now? He didn’t know what it was, but hewas certain it wanted blood. His blood. He couldn’t bear it anymore, sohe had run. They could take care of themselves. Mark always could. Heknew he had made the right choice when he heard the screaming behindhim. Better they than him. He was sad to lose Mark but atleast he wasalive. He had never liked Brian too much anyways.

“Bloody idiots”.

Hecouldn’t bear the thirst anymore. The hunger, the pain. It had to endnow. Death couldn’t be as bad as his life was. He had heard dying waspainless. But he had no way of knowing for sure. No one had come backfrom death right? But he somehow knew it was painless. Just like heknew that he could fly whenever he wanted to. But no one believed him.Ever. He had to end it now. Before he lost his nerve. He had to do itnow, before the numbness was gone and he was back in his normal boringlife. He took out the knife he always kept with him strapped to theankle. “Now”, he muttered and stabbed himself. Bloody idiots, he thought. Ashe lay on his back, the life draining from him, he saw two formsapproaching him. One looked like Mark but he couldn’t be sure. Hisvision had gone fuzzy. So this is what it feels like to die. Not halfas bad as he had imagined it. One of them leaned forward with a worriedexpression. It looked like Mark. Do ghosts look like these? He wouldsoon know.

“I’m coming, Mark”, he whispered before the world went dark around him.

“Fuck. He’s dead.”, said Brian,“Why do u think he ran away? And why did he kill himself?”. Mark’smoist eyes fell on the little brown bottle that had rolled out ofKevin’s pocket. “He took the drugs again.”, said Mark holding thebottle in his clenched hands.